[kkukshtel]

For something similar but different, I highly recommend people check out Visidata:

https://www.visidata.org/

It's saved my ass on multiple occasions for data wrangling and munging and highly recommend people use it in their own toolkit.

[somat]

it's weird but Visidata is very nearly my idea of a perfect spreadsheet. "But!", you exclaim, "Visidata is not a spreadsheet", I know, I know, that is what makes it so weird. Let me explain.

I am not fond of the the usual spreadsheet data model. "It's a big bag of cell" does not fill me with joy. And upon a bit of reflection I think it is the rows, I really hate how easy it is for rows to get out of sync. All I really want is row security.* And this is what visidata brings to the table.

* Relational databases provide this in spades. and in truth most of my spreadsheets have been replaced by them(I maintain a local postgres server on my desktop for all the small random prototype junk you would usually do in a spreadsheet using visidata as a pager) And while the database is great for analysis, random data entry sort of sucks. There are some great tools out there for this. I don't tend to use them, mainly because psql is always there, so I just sort of grumble when I have to do random entry without trying to fix anything. Why postgres instead of sqlite? I like the types and functions better.

[cykros]

It's all about picking the right tool for the job. I don't see easily constructing a Discounted Cash Flow model in a relational database making a ton of sense. Sure, you could have the data in one, and use a php script to handle the modeling, and output it on a webpage, but the reality is, a spreadsheet just does it a lot easier, and is what most people would want.

For handling structured data, spreadsheets can do it, but they're not always going to be the best tool for the job, as they do a lot of other things, too, which means if you're not careful, your data will lose its appropriate structure.

[Gormo]

Another strong recommend for VisiData. I've been using it for a few years now, it's probably saved me months worth of cumulative effort in tasks I'd have otherwise used either spreadsheets or databases for. In fact, I almost never touch spreadsheets for ad-hoc data processing anymore.

[fuzztester]

VisiData Lightning Demo at PyCascades 2018:

https://youtu.be/N1CBDTgGtOU

Submitted it here in case people want to comment about the video:

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=40885556

[msla]

There's also Scheme In A Grid (SIAG):

https://siag.nu/siag/

It has support for the Scheme programming language, MySQL, sending email (was jwz on this project?), and being part of a whole office suite.

SIAG Office:

http://siag.nu/index.shtml

(I'm kinda surprised. I remember when this was just that odd little program that shipped with Damn Small Linux.)

It can even load multiple file formats, including LaTeX, troff, and HTML tables:

https://siag.nu/siag/fileformats.html

[packetlost]

VisiData is the best! Saul (the creator) is also a phenomenal dev

[knuckleheads]

I've been trying to remember the name for this for weeks now, thank you for mentioning it!